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Was it worth the hype? Not really....it was okay. I liked most of the characters, though to be honest, I actually found myself liking Gou the most. Out of the guys....I guess I like Tachibana. Nagisa is annoying as fuck and Shark Boy is a douchebag.

Haruka is so, so, so pretty though......he'd marry a pool if it was legal.

Was it worth the fanboy RAEG? HELL YES. Apron over a swimsuit. And Haruka's willingness to strip whenever. 'Nuff said.

Well, better than I thought tbh
Really like the opening, it sounds cool and that top class animation
The ending is hilarious... in a good way
I don't know why people call this Gay ... Well not as gay as I expected
But certainly moe is there
And I predicted people will focus on the fanservices, fujoshit, moe, bla bla bla aspects on the show instead of everything else d:

Location: I've moved around the American West. I've lived in Oregon, Washington, Utah, and Oklahoma

Age: 38

Quote:

Originally Posted by zztop

I'm a bit confused about the first naming of the male characters and the female character, Gou.

Some forums have stated the guy's first names are 'feminine/gender-neutral' and the girl has a 'masculine' first name. Could anyone enlighten me on how this is the case?

Anyone who has intimate knowledge of how Japanese naming conventions work, the kanji meaning, and how the kanji give a masculine/feminine meaning to the names are much appreciated.
Here are the kanji for the names.

1) Haruka: 遥

2) Makoto: 真琴

3) Rin: 凛

4) Nagisa: 渚

5) Rei: 怜

6) Gou: 江

Thank you.

Not sure about the kanji, but sound wise those first 5 are all definitely girls names, with the possible exception of Makoto.

I'm guessing Makoto is gender neutral? There are some males I can think of, but also females. This is probably the most famous female Makoto in anime.

Haruka is a common female name. I can think of a Haruka in Love Hina, Minami-ke, oh... and Sailor Moon again.

Rei... well do I have to mention Neon Genesis Evangelion? Not to mention Sailor Moon again.

Rin has major female characters in Inuyasha, Vocaloid, Bunny Drop, and Little Busters just to name the few I can think of off hand.

So just based on anime character names, I'd say those are all pretty feminine names (again with the possible exception of Makoto, after all Sailor Jupiter was tomboyish wasn't she?)

As for Gou being a male name, I'm not so sure about that. I can't recall ever hearing it used as a male name, and Google shows pictures of this Gou from Free. (That and a disturbing number of rape manga, I shudder to think what would have shown up without safe search if that's what I got with it.)

Of course, Gou told us that the common reading is Kou, which is a female name. So I don't know. Just food for thought.

I admit I was intrigued by the Sailor Moon theme when looking at this. Too bad it didn't hold through for all of them. I wonder if the names have any other significance? Could they be heroines from anime that KyoAni animated? They did do Clannad.

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Cross Game - A Story of Love, Life, Death - and Baseball. What more could you want?

The cynic in me thinks it's because he got left in the dust by other swimmers in Australia and that's why he returned to Japan... BITTER.

Hah! In all seriousness, Japan's actually been pretty good in the last decade or so in swimming at the international stage that are starting to be as good as Aussies, US, and Russia. I'm more surprised they don't do more anime on swimming like they do for Baseball and Basketball. Not that I'm expecting much on the sports side of thing with KyoAni in the helm, but still... swimming is one of the more intense individual sports out there.

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Kudara nai na!Sig by TheEroKing.Calling on all Naruto fans, One Piece fans, and Shounen-fans in general... I got two words for you: One-Punch Man!Executive member of the ASS. Ready to flee at the first sign of trouble.

Location: I've moved around the American West. I've lived in Oregon, Washington, Utah, and Oklahoma

Age: 38

Knowing KyoAni they'll probably have at least one episode that's delves into the actual sport. The rest of the episodes will be focused on characters and relationships with the sport as background noise.

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Cross Game - A Story of Love, Life, Death - and Baseball. What more could you want?

Hah! In all seriousness, Japan's actually been pretty good in the last decade or so in swimming at the international stage that are starting to be as good as Aussies, US, and Russia. I'm more surprised they don't do more anime on swimming like they do for Baseball and Basketball. Not that I'm expecting much on the sports side of thing with KyoAni in the helm, but still... swimming is one of the more intense individual sports out there.

I guess swimming isn't as big in Japan as those two? Which makes me wonder now: They've made swimming. Up next: Figure Skating Anime. With glitter and leotards, frilly shirts, and more sparkles!

Maybe Rin did fail (or at least, can't seem to be at the tops) in Australia though and was haunted by the fact that Haru was better all these years. So, he decided to run back to Japan to beat the guy he couldn't beat there so he can tell himself he's improved and go back to competing in Australia...

.... is he a dual citizen? Japan doesn't have dual citizenship though... I seem to remember them having to pick a country once they hit 18 or 21.

I mainly watched it for the eye candy ... them glorious toned and muscle-y athletic bods yum yum yum. The tight spandex swimsuit under the apron ... DIVINE. The random strippings ... DIVINE.

Now story wise, the first episode was boring, a real 'meh and their personalities stereotypical. It just started, but I'll continue watching it, though I hope it improves since good looking characters, at least for me, will dull out if the story isn't interesting, but I hope that doesn't happen since well ... you gotta make full use of that crunchyroll membership lol.

Does anyone know if this is about friendship between the 4 guys or is there actually some yaoi romance lol since I got the impression through some scenes that it might head for the latter?

Quickly googled :3 But think of the fun it would be if it starred guys! One of them is absolutely manly and is a great figure skater. Except. He has to get over his issues in order to finally go on competitive skating- you know, where people can actually see! Helping him is his cute figure-skating buddy who helps him see how really manly pink and sequins can be!

I mainly watched it for the eye candy ... them glorious toned and muscle-y athletic bods yum yum yum. The tight spandex swimsuit under the apron ... DIVINE. The random strippings ... DIVINE.

Now story wise, the first episode was boring, a real 'meh and their personalities stereotypical. It just started, but I'll continue watching it, though I hope it improves since good looking characters, at least for me, will dull out if the story isn't interesting, but I hope that doesn't happen since well ... you gotta make full use of that crunchyroll membership lol.

Does anyone know if this is about friendship between the 4 guys or is there actually some yaoi romance lol since I got the impression through some scenes that it might head for the latter?

Not into checking out toned athletic men nor am I into watching men acting cute. Think I now know what it feels like for girls to watch fanservice that crater towards boys .

Kyo Ani, please more fanservice for Rin's sister and the teacher also.

Overall, Free is essentially a male version of K-On with swimming in place of music. I came in pretty much expecting this to happen. At least, that's my initial impression of it. Not a lot happened in the first episode but it was at least more active than Kimi to Boku, which felt similar in style, but was ultimately a borefest of seemingly gender confused boys. Free at least feels a bit more quirky in a good way and at least attempts to treat their male characters as...well....sort of male.

With Free, Nagisa and Makoto are the only real characters that seem to fall into the Ho, Yay! personas, even if Haruka and Rin are much more suggestive with their actions. Speaking of which, I can already tell there's going to be a ton of fake outs and I can't help but laugh because I'm just that certain that they won't cross the line, despite how many times they've "attempted". It's so weird seeing a show with a large male cast yet it feels so familiar, as the personalities that surround Haruka and Rin are essentially feminine in nature. It's strange, but I don't think KyoAni broke out of their usual mode quite yet. They just replaced boobs and short skirts for some well-defined chests and backs, which quite honestly, I found sort of disgusting in a "these don't really look natural" way.

In any case, the fanservice really wasn't that bad, just a ton of predictable fake-outs. Only thing I found really strange was Haruka's willingness to just randomly strip down and/or be nearly naked in front of other people and/or wear an apron over his swim shorts. (Really KyoAni? Really?)

I'll continue to watch just for the breath of fresh air it is.

EDIT: Just to mention something outside the characters and the fanservice: Holy Fuck, those water effects. Too fucking amazing.

Quote:

Originally Posted by zztop

I'm a bit confused about the first naming of the male characters and the female character, Gou.

Some forums have stated the guy's first names are 'feminine/gender-neutral' and the girl has a 'masculine' first name. Could anyone enlighten me on how this is the case?

Anyone who has intimate knowledge of how Japanese naming conventions work, the kanji meaning, and how the kanji give a masculine/feminine meaning to the names are much appreciated.
Here are the kanji for the names.

1) Haruka: 遥

2) Makoto: 真琴

3) Rin: 凛

4) Nagisa: 渚

5) Rei: 怜

6) Gou: 江

Thank you.

Japanese names have a weird tendency to be gender-neutral even when they don't seem like it and meaning doesn't necessarily play a huge part in it. Ultimately, I think it's a matter of perception though some names are just more common among one gender than they are another.

Of the 5 guys' names, Makoto is the only one I really perceive as masculine but according to Jisho, that particular kanji for "Makoto" apparently spells a feminine variant. Haruka, Rin, Rei, and Nagisa are definitely more feminine names though I've known at least one (real life) boy named Haruka in the past.

In the case of Gou, it just comes down to the reading and letter choice. "G" is a bit more harsher than "K" (hence, "Gou" sounds more masculine than "Kou") and for all intents and purposes, you can usually swap both letters without altering the meaning much on a lone kanji.